Annoying Threads

This post is not about clothes. 

I get annoyed at those threads that hang off your hem and tickle the back of your leg but you can never find them when you look. . . . but that's not exactly blog worthy.

E-mail threads aren't blog worthy either, but that's what I am writing about.

I was out of the office last week.

I returned to 276 e-mails.

At first I thought that the high volume of e-mails was due to my critically important job and the fact that I need to be "in the know" on several salient issues.

Then I figured out the high volume of calls was due to a disprortionate amount of dumb-asses who hit "REPLY ALL". 

Sometimes REPLY ALL is a valuable tool.  REPLY ALL is helpful when you need everyone on the thread to know something.

For example:

Original E-Mail (sent to 30 e-mail addresses):  "Can anyone cite the regulation mandating student fees?  I can't find it"

REPLY ALL:  "It's in the GIPWE, Chapter 3.  It also lists exceptions"  This is a very good use of REPLY ALL.

Most of my e-mails looked like this:

REPLY ALL: "Thanks"  (Poor use of REPLY ALL)

REPLY ALL: "I don't know where it is. Hope someone else does". (Very poor use of REPLY ALL.)


REPLY ALL:  "Hey Sender!  Did you know that someone parked in your space this morning?" (WTF use of REPLY ALL)

REPLY ALL: "I know -- I totally had to park in the handicapped space this morning! LOL!"  (WTF use of REPLY ALL plus one LOL infraction, plus Sender is an asshole for parking in a handicapped space.)

After getting through at least 80 REPLY ALLs, plus the weekday lunch menus, stupid chain jokes and the notice about the Kindergarten's Easter Party, I had about 30 real e-mails.

I am just not that important.